Twenty years ago, the lead singer of the Irish punk band The Boomtown Rats, Bob Geldof organized two concurrent concerts, one at Wembley Stadium, London, the other at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, to send money and food to famine stricken Ethiopia. Known as Live Aid, the concerts were a follow-up to a global effort on the part of recording artists through the UK , US and Canadian Band-Aid recordings. On July 2nd of this year, musicians around the world will band together to do it again with five simultaneous concerts planned for London, Berlin, Rome, Paris and Philadelphia. The concerts are timed to coincide with the G8 economic conference in Scotland , under the nickname Live 8. Confirmed acts include UK rockers Coldplay, Sir Paul McCartney, the Spice Girls, Eminem, Madonna, U2, the Rolling Stones, Will Smith, Jamiroquia, Youssou N’Dour, Crosby, Stills and Nash, REM, The Cure, A-Ha, Brian Wilson, Sarah McLachlan, and dozens of others.
“We will not tolerate the further pain of the poor while we have the financial and moral means to prevent it,” Geldof said Tuesday. “What we started 20 years ago is coming to a political point in a few weeks. What we do next is seriously, properly, historically and politically important.”
The shows will be carried live by AOL on July 2.